Chapter Four
Sasuke had a throbbing head when his eyes opened. He was indeed surprised at his surroundings when he fully gained consciousness. Instead of being in some dark, dungy cell like he would have thought and expected, he was in a room lying on a futon. Blankets covered him, and his clothes had been changed into a more comfortable outfit. He tried to keep still, but then glanced down involuntarily at his wrist. It was wrapped neatly in a bandage, and he could only feel a soft null of pain.
The doors opened and a small green man entered. Sasuke looked at this newcomer and thought he looked extremely odd, almost as if he didn't belong here. The man looked at Sasuke, then coughed roughly. "Awake, see. Hurts? Name, Yoda."
"What... Oh, no. Not really. It's much better," Sasuke replied. Then internally smaked himself. Why am I talking to him so idily? He's that bad guy. All of them are bad people! Remember that! "Where am I? Why am I here? I demand to know!" he commanded.
"Such manners bad. Time, wait," Yoda said. He then proceeded to place a cool cloth on Sasuke's forehead, and then leave the room. Sasuke grumbled at the thought of having to wait, and at getting no answers, but felt better at the cool, wet cloth on his forehead. It was then he realized his whole body ached inside and out.
"Ugh..." he groaned. He just wanted to go back to sleep, but couldn't. He was in enemy territory. As much as they treated him kindly now, they could always turn on him at any second. For now, though, he had to remember and keep his gaurd up at all times. Plus, his second motivation for staying awake was the sole reason that he had to plan an escape from the place. Surely people at home would eventually one day notice him missing, and he did not want to be rescued. He would get himself out of all the mess, by him self.
A little while later, a new man suddenly peeked in. First their eyes, and then their whole face. Their gaze was kept constantly fixed on Sasuke. Never straying. As Sasuke saw more of the man's face, he saw a completely idiotic grin planted smack dab in the middle of the man's face. If Sasuke hadn't of been so hurt, he probably would have punched the grin right off his face.
"What do you want?" he growled irratibly.
The man's smile did not fade, or even flinch. What did this man want? Sasuke wondered. Suddenly the man stepped completely into the room, and Sasuke let out a terribly long groan inside. Everything about the man screamed "annoying!", and Sasuke had a terrible feeling inside.
"Hi there!" the man said cheerfully, grin still there all the way. A mustache sat perched above the grin, and Sasuke did somewhat wonder if ripping it off would hurt the man. "Name's Chuck. Chuck Norris." Sasuke, feeling very small lying on the floor, pushed himself up with a grimace on his face. He could feel his strength flowling through him roughly. As though parts of him were clauged. "Well you're just a little fellow, aren't you?"
"I'm not little!" Sasuke cried impatiently.
"Sorry, kid." Chuck winked at him. "How old are you?"
"13," Sasuke replied proudly.
"Only 13!?" Chuck cried in confusion. "What does that guy want with a 13 year old. For gosh sake, he's just a kid!"
"Would you stop saying that?" Sasuke grumbled.
"But-"
"Now, now, now." A voice interrupted from the hallway. "Let's leave our patient alone for now... Chuck. Why don't you go get... takeout, yes, takeout. That's good," the voice mumbled.
"Okie-dokie!" Chuck agreed quickly with a smile. "See ya kid. Bye boss!"
"AGH." Sasuke cried in defeat, letting his body flop down again.
"Hello, Sasuke. I must say I am terribly sorry about your injury. I had no intentions of having Tayuya and Kidomaru ever... hurt you. They were only supposed to retrieve you. Both of those idiots have recieved severe punishment for causing you a disturbance."
"Why am I here? Who are you?" Sasuke demanded.
"My name is Orochimaru. And you are here, because I have a proposition for you."
"Who'd want to listen to some creepy man's proposition? I mean, what kind of guy kidnaps people?"
"Someone... who wants something done?" Chuck popped his head into the room with these words.
Orochimaru wheeled around. "Eh... Wha...? What are you doing here? Where's that takeout I asked you to get?"
"Um... Gone?" Chuck asked.
"Don't ask me...!" Orochimaru said, staring incredously at him. "And what do you mean by "gone"?"
"That's just it. It's gone! Completely disappeared in one foul swoop!"
Orochimaru frowned. "Never mind... go... mop the floor, or vacuum the grass..."
"Yes, sir! I'll be right on that!" Chuck saluted him, then left the doorway immediately, shutting the door behind himself.
There was a moment of silence between the two. Sasuke was trying to figure out exactly where he was. All he could think was that he'd stumbled into creep land, and that finding a normal person in this place had a .1 in 1000 chance of happening. At the same moment, Orochimaru was trying to figure out if there was such a person in the world that existed, who could be and was more stupid than Chuck. He really didn't know how one such as Chuck managed to survive in the world, let alone one day. What he didn't really know either was how Chuck came to be in his possession. Really, he thought, these people stumble out of no where.
Finally Sasuke broke the silence of thoughts. "What's your proposition?"
"You want to be stronger." Sasuke didn't know if Orochimaru's words were a statement, or if they were a question.
"Of course," he answered.
"I can make that come true. Believe me, and trust in my words. I will make you stronger. Far stronger than you would ever imagine. Sasuke, I can make you stronger than your brother."
This surprised Sasuke. "You know Itachi?"
"Of course I know Itachi. I know all about Itachi. I also know that if you let me help you, I can make you stronger than your brother will ever be."
Sasuke took the time to let this all sink in... He could imagine power that could let him pound his brother into the ground. Power that would ensure respect, and plant fear into the hearts of others. All those times he'd been ignored, by those people. Finally, with becoming stronger he could show them what they'd forgotten. What they'd chosen to do was their mistake.
He couldn't take it in all at once. There was something so unbelievable about it that it was becoming hard to fathom. Like someone else's dream that he didn't have and had only heard it from them. It wasn't his dream. He couldn't see what they had saw in their dream. And so, in that instance, it became unreal. Unfathomable. Something of a fantasy that made him come to another resolution.
Sasuke suddenly had a flash back of when he was younger. He couldn't exactly place how old he was at the time. He saw the event in his head.
"Itachi! Itachi! I-ta-chi!"
"What is it?" Itachi asked breathlessly, as he shot into the room, looking as if he'd just run a marathon.
"Train me, Itachi! Please, you said you would. You promised!"
Itachi, relieved that nothing was wrong, sagged down onto the bed. "...You know I can't, Sasuke. I can only say "later" so many times... You know I want to train you. That I'd rather train you than go out on any mission. But the reasons for the mission are more important than training you right now. I will later." Itachi then proceeded to poke Sasuke in the forehead.
"You always say that. Always, always, always. When? Itachi, when? It's like you're trying to get away from me."
"If I say it all the time, then it should be implanted in your brain. It's true. I really would like to spend more time with you, but I can't today. Not today. I promise, later. Just wait. Later I'll teach you. In the mean time you can learn to be patient."
"I'm done being patient," Sasuke pouted. "I'm done with waiting, and I'm done with you saying that you'll train me later. I hate you!"
Then Sasuke remembered something he'd forgotten. All those time Itachi'd said later, Sasuke had immediately gone out to practice by himself. Sure it was lonely, but it wasn't the fact that he just wanted to train with his brother... If his brother had trained with him just at least once that would have made things better... But Sasuke remembered that every time he went out on his own to train, he only did this so he could come back and show Itachi just how much stronger he'd grown on his own.
He didn't want somebody else's help to make him stronger. He wanted to be strong on his own, doing so his way. To show that he could beat Itachi on his own, and make Itachi regret not training him when he had the chance. Sasuke looked Orochimaru in the eye. He'd thought out his answer very unsurely at first, but now he was sure of the asnwer. "No," he said. "I will not be needing your proposition, Orochimaru."
